Extrusion coating machine



Aug. 19, 1952 R. c.'sTuRKEN 2,607,712

ExTRusoN coATING MACHINE Filed Jan. 28, 1952 72m frail/re Fa er ATTORN E Patented Aug. 19, 1952 f "ffUNIYTED :STATES PATENT OFFICE Y2,607,712 ExrausroN coA'rING MACHINE Robert C. Sturken, .New Brunswick, N. J., assignor to Frank W. Egan & Company Application January 28, 1952, 'Serial No. 268,555

4 Claims. Y 1

This invention relates to paper coating machines and more particularly -to improvements 'in machines which utilise rollers to bond a sheet of hot'ther-moplastic material to the surface of a strip of paper in a continuous operation under controlled pressure and temperature.

In a paper coating machine of the class described, the laminating 'head of the machine comprises two cooperating counter-rotating rollers having their longitudinal axes parallel and bearing'against each other at their line of contact orlnip. V4One of these rollers is provided with internal means to control the temperature of its outer surface and will hereinafter be denominated :the temperature roller. The other of the rollers, hereinafter called the pressure roller, is arranged to exert -a continuous controllable force against ythe temperature roller at their line of contact. A continuous strip `or web of material to becoated, .such as paper, metal foil, or cloth for example, is carried partly around the pressure roller and through the nip of the rollers. A continuous sheet of hot thermoplastic material, such as polyethylene resin, vformed by an extruder sheeting ldie immediately adjacent and parallel to the nip of the rollers is introduced between the rollers 'at their nip and is bonded to the exposed Surface of the paper or other material under the action of the temperature change and Ipressure applied by the rollers.

litv has been found that for proper bonding of the papel' and plastic :a minimum .of cooling of the plastic must loccur between its extrusion from the die and yits introduction to thev nip of the rollers. I have fou-nd two major sources of heat loss in Amachines of this class prior to nw present invention. The rst has been premature .contact of the hot thermoplastic sheet with either the sur-face of the temperature roller or the paper passing over the pressure roller. This premature contact occurs when the plastic sheet enters the nip of the rollers other than tangentially. VWhile it is relatively easy under .static conditions to align the extruder die to present the plastic sheet to therollers in a pla-ne tangent to `them at their nip, dynamic effects resulting from the high speed rotation of the rollers, eddying currents of air on opposite sides of the plastic sheet, and differing physical rproperties of the plastic unite to displace the sheet from the plane which is tangent to both rollers under static conditions. Consequently,` the het plastic sheet 'touches either the temperature roller or the paper before entering the nip; the temperature yof the plastic is reduced; the tackiness oi the plastic.

is lessened; and an imperfect bonding lo1' "the paper and plastic results. Attempts to remedy this difliculty have led to the second source'of heat loss. Movement of the extruder die toalig'n the plastic sheet tangentially of the rollers l'necessitates moving the die away from the rollers to avoid interferencewith them. But this elon-A gates the exposed section of the het plasticsheet which results in greater loss of heat'to the eddying air currents following the high speed 110117 ers, The present invention minimizes bothvoi' these avenues of heat loss. f

I have found that the entry of the r'plastic sheet to the nip of the rollers must be in a plane quite accurately tangent `to the rollers at their nip to preclude cooling of the hot plasticsheet through premature contact with paper orroller; An accurate statement of this condition, in view of `the fact' that the rollers are separated by the thicknesses of the paper and plastic,and-have no actual line of contacti is that the plane of lthe plastic sheet lentering the nip ofthe rollers must be'parallel to planes Vtangent to the rollers `at the intersections of the surfaces of thev rollers with a plane containing the axes ofthe rollers. However, throughout Athe discussion of fthe invention, tangent to the rollers at their line of contact o'r nip is to be understood to be equivalent to the more complex statement parallel to planes tangent tothe rollers at lthe intersections of the surfaces of the rollers with a plane' conf taining the axes of the rollers.

The invention provides a novel means fortanl gentially conforming the rollers to' any plane of entry the plastic sheet might assume under thev varying circumstances set out above. According to the invention the rollers are provided with means for separately displacing their axes in mutually oblique directions and means to cause one of the rollers to follow the other when they' are undergoing displacement, thereby 'dis'- placing the line of contact ofthe rollers..y -This changes the inclination of the pla-ne tangent to the rollers at their nip I'with respecttoa refer'- ence plane, say the plane in whichthe plastic sheet is normallyextruded from the die. Thus,

when operating conditions of the machine cause" th'eplastic sheet to be idisplacedfrom-.this' ref erence plane, the rollers are made tangent "to the plastic'sheet by displacing their line of contact until the inclination of their com-mon tangent plane corresponds to the inclinationoi the plastic sheet. i f

The greatest displacement of thelline ol'- con-"- tact ofthe :roliersis obtained when the axesnre made to Vbe displaced in directions which are mutually perpendicular. The jaws of the usual 90 V-shaped sheeting die may provide a convenient reference. Thus, the axis of the pressure roller may be made to Vbe displaced in a plane parallel to one face of the die while the axis of the temperature roller may be made to be displaced in a plane parallel to the other face of the die. It is not-necessary, however,v that the axes be displaced in perpendicular planes, and other references may be used.

Another advantage is that the nature of the means according to the invention provide not one, but a large number of locations of the rollers relative to the die which have a given inclination of their common tangent plane. For a given inclination of the tangent plane necessaryto conform the rollers tangentially to the plastic sheet,

the nip at one of this number of locations of the f rollers will be nearer the die than any other location having the same inclination of the tangent plane. A minimum length of the exposed plastic sheet is obtained when the rollers are positioned at this nearest location of the nip to thedie. Therefore, the invention accomplishes minimization of heat loss from the exposed length of the hot plastic sheet simultaneously with its provision for tangentially conforming the rollers to the plastic sheet.V These features of the improvements provided by the` invention minimize loss of heat from the plastic sheet through premature Contact between the paper or temperature roller and through conduction and radiation to its ambient. y Y Y A preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed in the yfollowing description and the accompanying drawings.

. .In thedrawings: f

fFigQ-l is a side elevation `of the laminating head of a paper coating machine embodying the invention. A, f Y' Y Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of the sideelevation of YFigfl, showing typical displacements of the plastic sheet and corresponding positionsof the rollers.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the. laminating head is symmetrical about a central plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the rollers. The temperature roller is made tov be displaced in the horizontal direction while the pressure roller is made4 to be displacedl in the vertical direction.' With reference to'lig. l,v a motor-driven temperature roller I, provided with internal means for controlling the tempera= ture of its outer surface, is rotatably suspended from stanchions 2 at the extremes ofY its longitudinal axis. Accordingto the invention,these stanchions are slidablymounted on plane horizontal bearing surfaces 3'of the frame 4 of the machine..V Lead screw means 5 are `provided to advance or retract stanchions -2 simultaneously with respect to the sheeting die 8.

-A rubber covered pressure roller I0 Yis rotatably suspended from the upper ends of substantially vertical supporting arms II at the extremes of its longitudinal axis. The lower ends of the supporting arms II are engaged with connecting rods I2 respectively of pneumatic piston and cyly against the temperature roller I at their lineof contact I5. The pneumatic cylinders I3 are also adaptedtok ,withdraw thelpressure .roller from 4 the temperature roller by an amount sufficient to permit cleaning and threading of the laminating head of the paper coating machine.

Vertical displacement of the pressure roller in this preferred embodiment of the invention is obtained from an arcuate movement produced by an eccentric shaft means I4 by which the supporting arms II are mounted on the frame 4 of the machine. Horizontal components of this arcuate movement are compensated Ifor by revolution of the pressure roller about the axes of the shafts on which its supporting shafts are mounted as the roller maintains contact with the pressure roller. Shaft means I comprises two shafts having their longitudinal axes parallel, the inner shaft I6 being eccentrically journalled within the outer shaft Il. A protruding length of the inner shaft IB is journalled in the supporting arm Il intermediate of its length. The outer shaft l1 is journallcd in the frame 4 of the machine and is provided with a worm and gear means I8Yto rotate the shaft I1 about its longitudinal axis. The Vworms are interconnected Vby a shaft toinsure equal rotation of the outer shafts I'I. This in turn eiects equal-displacements of the ends ofthe axis of the pressure roller I0. s

f t isV seen Vthat utilizing the Worm 'and gear means to rotate the outer shafts I'I through 1809 eiTects a Vdisplacement of the inner shafts- I6 of twice rthe amount of the inner shafts eccentricity of the outer shafts. The supporting arms II, and therefore, the pressure roller I0 may be displaced by an equal amount. In general, a vertical displacement of the pressure roller effected by rotation of the eccentric shaft means is accompanied by ahorizontal displacement. 'Ihis latter displacement is countered by revolution of the pressure roller I0 about the inner shafts I5 as the pneumatic cylinders I3 act to maintain forceful contact between the pressure and temperature rollers. v K In the operation ofthe laminating head a continuous web of paper 20 from an externalsupply is passed partly around pressure roller I0v and through the line of contact of the rollers. A hot sheet of thermoplastic material 9 continuously formed by sheeting die 8 is introduced to the nip of the rollers where it is pressed `against the exposed surface of the web of. paper 20 "and chilled by contact with the surface of temperature'roller I. The coated'paper is carriedout ofthe 'nip and partly around the temperature roller for further cooling of the plastic. At a point'where the plastic is sufficiently cooled, thecoated paper is led off the temperature'roller to' othermachinos-for further processing. Y

To correct the operationofa laminating head which is'producing imperfectly coated paper due to` excessive cooling of the plasticprior to its encountering the paper in the nip of the rollers,tlie temperature roller is advanced or retracted with reference to the normalpositi'on of the plasticsheet while the pressure roller is raised or lowered until' a combination of adjustments is obtained in positions ci. conformed Vto' thehot plastic 'she'fet' Positions being extruded in thehormal plane. b shown in dottedL lines illustrate the condition yof' the. plastic sheet having a convex (Ilisplacement s to the right of the normal plane. Temperature roller I has been displaced to the right and pressure roller I isdisplaced vertically to change the inclination ofthe plane tangent to the rollers at their nip. The apparent non-vertical displacement of the axis of the pressure roller results from the horizontal component added' to the displacement f the pressure roller by the action of the pneumatic cylinders rotating the supporting armsto maintain continuous pressure between the rollers. The broken lines show positions c of the rollers conformed to a convex displacement of the plastic sheet to the left.

Concurrentlywilth the foregoing adjustment, the rollers are yadjusted to the plane of entry at the shortest distance of the nip of the rollers from the extruder die. Inasmuch as the Jimprovements according to the invention providea Wide practical range of positions of the rollers having a giveninclination of their common ytangent plane, a nearest location of the nip to the die may =be selected. This will ensure a minimum loss of heat to the rapidly circulating air near the rollers and contribute to a more nearly perfect union between the paper and plastic.

It is to be understood that my invention is not limited by the details of structure hereinbefre described, but only by the scope of the claimsf;

I claim:

l. A machine including parallel. counter-rotating rollers adapted to 'bond in the nip of the rollers a thin sheet of surfacing material to; a surface of a continuous sheet of web-like material carried by one of said rollers through their nip, means for displacing one of said rollers in a first direction, means for displacing the other of said rollers in a direction oblique to the first direction, and means for eiecting a continuous pressure between said rollers whereby the inclination of the plane tangent to the rollers at their nip may be conformed to the inclination of the sheet of surfacing material entering the nip.

2. A machine according to claim 1. in which the means for displacing one of said rollers causes the axis of that` roller to describe an arcuate path, and the means for displacing the other of said rollers causes the axis of that other roller to describe a planar path.

3. A paper coating machine including parallel, counter-rotating rollers which apply controlled temperature and pressure to bond in the nip of the rollers a continuous sheet of thermoplastic material to a surface of a continuous web of paper carried by one ofv said rollers through their nip, the combination of means to displace the axis of one of said rollers in an arcuate path. means to displace the axis of the other of said rollers in a planar path, and means to effect a continuous pressure r'between said rollers whereby the inclination ofrthe plane tangent to the rollers at their nip maybe conformed to the inclination of the thermoplastic sheet entering the nip.

4. A laminating head of a paper coating machine comprising a rigid frame having plane horizontal bearing surfaces; stanchions slidably mounted on saidbearing surfaces; a motor driven, controlled temperature roller rotatably suspended at the extremes vof its longitudinal axis from said stanchions; a lead screw means to displace said stanchions in the horizontal direction; substantially verticalv supporting arms; outer shafts journalled in the frame and provided with -worm and gear means to rotate said outer shafts about their axes; an, inner shaft eccentrically journalled in eachof said outer shafts; a protruding length of each of said inner shafts journalled y intermediate the length of 'said supporting arms:

a rubber covered pressure roller parallel to saidl temperature roller and rotatably suspended between the upper ends of said supporting arms; pneumatic piston and cylinder means operatively connected to the lower ends of said supporting arms to exert -"forces which maintain continuing pressure between said pressure and temperature rollers; and a thermoplastic extruder die adjacent the pressure and temperature rollers.

ROBERT C. STURKEN.

No references cited. 

1. A MACHINE INCLUDING PARALLEL, COUNTER-ROTATING ROLLERS ADAPTED TO BOND IN THE NIP OF THE ROLLERS A THIN SHEET OF SURFACING MATERIAL TO A SURFACE OF A CONTINUOUS SHEET OF WEB-LIKE MATERIAL CARRIED BY ONE OF SAID ROLLERS THROUGH THEIR NIP, MEANS FOR DISPLACING ONE OF SAID ROLLERS IN A FIRST DIRECTION, MEANS FOR DISPLACING THE OTHER OF SAID ROLLERS IN A DIRECTION OBLIQUE TO THE FIRST DIRECTION, AND MEANS FOR EFFECTING A CONTINUOUS PRESSURE BETWEEN SAID ROLLERS WHEREBY THE INCLINATION OF THE PLANE TANGENT TO THE ROLLERS AT THEIR NIP MAY BE CONFORMED TO THE INCLINATION OF THE SHEET OF SURFACING MATERIAL ENTERING THE NIP. 